Convertible car.



Patented 0013.28, 1913.

n m N Tm W M Z A J. M. COLEMAN.

CONVERTIBLE CAR.

7 APPLICATION FILED APR. 22, 1910. 1,076,746.

W E N EB I I To all whom it may ooncem amiss m. commas, or mogirrm'ian, mmnrzcycmam;

convasnBL-E can.

Specification ofLetters Patent.

PatentedQet..28,1913.

Application filed April 22,1816; Serial No. 557,018.

Be it known that I, JAMES M COLEMAN, of the city of lliohtreal, in the Province of Quebec and Dominion of Canada, have in vented certain new and useful Improvemeats in Convertible Cars; of which the following isa- 1111, clear,- and exact description.

This invention relates to improvements in convertible cams,- and the object is to provide a can which may used in one form as a;-

I "7:;ftBi-glitggggnd may be quickly andeasily con mm a h pp bottom-m o r ingi-Igrairr; coal. or the like.

{A further object is to: provide" a hopper bottom car whichmaybe quickly and easily dumped: into a small area-,- such as-the chutesofi a grain elevator.

A stil-l'further object to provide means for reventing. leakage of car uring transit;

To accomplish these objects, I- provide aea r having the floor thereof formed in seciiions; covering permanent hoppers. When the car is use as a general purpose freight ear, the floor remains level but when used grain from the asagrain orcoal car, the floor sections over the hoppers are raised to form the car into a hopper bottom ear; The floor comprises twocentlalsectionsdivid'efd longitudinally of the car and' adapted-to be raised at the sides to cover the doorways-- An intermelia te section at each endv of the central -sec--' tions is adaptedtobe raised at the ends of the car to form continuations of the hopper" bottoms, and astationary section at each end ofthe-car over the trucks. Outwardly swinging doors arehinged at the top to the adjacent ends of the hoppers and are opened and closed by a suit-able mechanism.

Movable sealing plates are mounted at the edges, of the doors to-prev'entany grainleale' age during transiti In the drawings which illustrate "my invention:-F1gure l is a YIQW of a car showing on the left a Vertical longitudinal sec-1 tion and on the right a side elevation. Fig. 2- is a vertical cross section at the ccnt'erof' the car. Fig 3 is an enlarged detail viewshow-ing the connect'ionotthe hopper doors lo the hopper. Fig. 4 is aplan=view of the hi lpl'flil' door and sealing device tln-ret'm. Fig. 5 is a detail view of the hopper door opening and closi n 3 gear;

vReferring to the drawings, 6 designates-a a= car and 7 the sheathing which is made to present aper'fectly smooth interior surface for the car. The body is provided with a suitable roof 8 and doorways 9. The car body is mounted on longitudinalcenter sills IOand side sills 1'1, andis provided with trucks designated 12. At each end of the car, theportion- 13' of the floor over the trucks: is stationary, The floor at the'centarot thecar is formed by a pair of doors 14 which divide longitudinally at tlie cent-er and are hinged at the sides of the car, as

' suitable type .of framework for the bodyxof indicated 14*. These doors 14:,ex'tendjbeyon'd' thesidesbf the doorways and-are supported at their ends on the transom's or cross bearers 1'5.

tiona'ry floors, is formed of a single .inter media-tesection 16' extending the full Width of the car; These intermediate sections are supported at their inner ends on the transom's' 15 and are supported at their outer ends on the tra'nsoms 17, which latter transoms-also support the inner ends of the stationary floor sections B3. The sections 16 are preferably hinged to the stationary'sec tions 13: Below t-hefloor, a-pIuralityofS'tationary hoppers I8 are located on each side of the center sills. These hoppers are each composed of bottom-plates 1-95 slopingdownwa-rdly from the t ransoms 17 toward the center of the car. .The inner sides of the hopper are formed by the webs of the center sills. and the outer sides are formed by plates 20'sloping downwardly from the side sills 11 toward the center sills 10. The ends of the er doors ti 'ht-lv a ainst lcaka e of "ram.- t7 .1 I I r C! The latch v or other material, in transit. plates are located at the periphery of the hopper doors and are provided with'slot's 98 within which are located studs or bolts 29 secured to the doors. T liesc sealing plates The floor-at each end of. the a doors 14. between saiddoorsand'lhe sta-.

vers. It will be obvious that when the-hub 30 is turned by meansof a wrench, or 'any platestoward the center of the door, said -mechanism, and may be operated eitherindependently or simultaneously. In Fig. 5,

* and lower shafts 36' and37. Door-opening chains 41. secured to the lever' rods 38.-,pasS

- around the bottom of the sheave --and.up r wardly to the shaft 36, while door closing chains 42 extendfrom the lever rods 38 4 When the shaft 36 is turned in the directionof the arrow at the topin Fig.6, the sheave .40 will be carried upwardly and with it the away from the hopper. To close the-doors,

I car is to be used for carrying grainortlie shown in Ifigs. l and 2, to forman inner: covering and support for the cardoors;

are operated froin a central disk pl'O -j wrench maybe used for throwing the latch f plates into and out of the recess 25. Togg 'with links 33 attached'to-the disk 30, one on will beforced outwardly beyond theperiph7i cry of the door proper.

closing them. Any. suitable locking ornn .vided with a sqiTarehub'31' upon which a t levers 32* are secured to the side plates 27 and are connectedat their point of junction" each side of the square hub. Links 34 are secured to the levers '32 at one'fend, and at -the opposite end. are "secured ton;the top and bottom latch plates; "The levers 32 operate in guides 35-to prevent buckling ofsaid le-.

other suitable instrument, in the direction of the-arrow, that the levers '32yand links 34 will draw the top and bottom and; side latch plates slidingonthe studs 29 ,within the slots 28. Similarly gvhen the disk turned in the opposite direction, 'thelate =.p lates,-:

The hopper doors may be swung inwardly or 'olitwardly on their hinges by anysuitable around the" upper side ofq'the sheave and downwardly to: the operating shaft. 37.

lever rods 38,.thus drawing the doors 23! the shaft 37 is turned'in the direction of the arrow at the bottom ofQFi 5, andthe sheave 40 is drawn downwardly, thus fore ing the lever rods 38 against the doors and locking devices, such as a pawl and ratchet, may beprovided for theshafts 36 and 37.

In operation, when the car is to be-used as an ordinary box car for carrying miscellaneous freight, all the fl0or.sect1ons rest on the transoms and form 'a-cont-inuous" horizontal floor over the hoppers the full length and width-of the car. When the like, the two floor doors 14 are "raised, as

' multaneoi 's ly'into .thedoor openin Theintermediate floor sections 15' are lifteda'edf pla E- a "i di s t. @5155 a o car, soj "as torcover the stationary. floor sec tions; the upper-[edges lofthe sections. resting Orr-the end wal1s of the car, so; that these sections form oontinuationsfof the bottom plates of the hop'pers- "The car is thus converted 'into a hopper car having no level- 'shoveled tocomplete the 'emptying of 1e car. The interior surface of the car walls' 'isrsmoo'th and presents no vledges for the lodgment of grain .To close the hopper doors ready for filling the car, the ."trans-.

verse'shaft 37 is operated by' means of" the hand'wheel 43 in thedi'rec tion1- of the arrow 'show'nat the bottom of Figj fi, when the. sheave 40 "will be drawn downwardly andthe lever rods 38 will force the hopper doors 23 into position. Whenfthe'doors are in-place, the disk 3O on each door'isturned by means of the hub 31-50 that the latch plates are forced outwardly intoithe' recess 25, to .thuscompletelyl cover-the periphery of the door' and form avsealjagainst' leakage of grain. or other, material; 'The. shaft 37 may be also locked in any suitable manner. When the-car is to be unlo'adedin a grain elevator or the like, the latch plates are'withdrawn from the recess, -the shaft 37 is unlocked, and the transversefshaft 36 is operated in the direction shown atthe top-of Fig. 5, so that the-openingichains carry. thersheave io with the lever-rods 38 upwardly and thus withdraw thedoo s 23 fromithe hopper mouth. Thecar will thus completely-empty itself'within a verylimg ited area and within a very short period of] While I have shown the preferred form of, con struction it-will be obvious that many modifications may be made in the details of construction and arrangement. without departing from the spirit of my invention.

;I-Iaving thus described my invention,what-.

the characterdescribed .a

hopper bottom, an outwardly sw-inging door therefor, s'aidhopper having-a recess Slll' rounding the door opening adjacent the, edges. thereof, means for opening-and fclos-. ing said door, latch plates s'lidably secured adjacent the periphery of said door, toggle v mechanism arranged to slide said plates si- 2. In a car 0 the character-'described,a

;h'opper'.bottom, an outwardly swinging doortherefor, said hopper having a recess sur-v ing said door, latch plates slidably mounted .at the edges of the door, toggle levers connecting-the lateson' two opposite edges-0f two remaining edges of the door with said the recess surrounding a rounding the door opening adjacent the edges thereof, means for opening and clos- 12 5 ,the door, lin s connecting the plates on the i toggle levers, a revohible disk and hnks c0n In Witness whereof I have hereunto set necting said disk withthe joints of the tog- .my hand in the presence of two Witnesses. gle levers. whereby the plates will'be jsimul- JAMES M. COLEMAN.

'taneouslv forced into the recess surrounding Witnesses: 5 the door opening on the. rotation of the STUART R. W. ALLEN,

disk. E. R. MCKENZIE. 

